Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, in the book, described Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's meeting with a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic".

Inside the White House, Bannon was viewed as the keeper of Trump's nationalistic flame, charting the progress on the president's promises to his base on dry erase boards in his office. The author of the book, Michael Wolff, disputed Bannon's account.

Bannon calledBreitbart a "platform" for the "alt-right", a loosely organized nationalistic movement whose followers include white supremacists and anti-Semites, but he also told reporters that he rejected both and was confident they would "wash out" of the movement.

Trump aides immediately dismissed him as disloyal while the president took to Twitter to rail against "Sloppy Steve".

"Steve is a valued part of our legacy, and we will always be grateful for his contributions, and what he has helped us to accomplish", Breitbart CEO Larry Solov said. Wolff offered readers a scoop on what insiders in the US administration think about US President Donald Trump and his ability to manage the Land of the Free, while Hansen's book, titled "Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany, 1942-1945", focused on the effects of carpet bombing in Germany.

Bannon had claimed that his charge of treason was aimed at former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who is now under indictment by the Office of Special Counsel for lying to federal law enforcement officers and laundering money, and not Donald Trump Jr., as claimed in the book.

Later Tuesday, Bannon tweeted that Breitbart "has come along way and has really just begun its mission". He joined the Trump campaign in August 2016.

"They discuss it at the White House: his apparent inability to read one page or one paragraph".

As late as this weekend, Bannon continued to tell people that he planned to stay in charge at Breitbart and that he would keep his radio show. But some Trump allies hope the president will permanently cut off his former strategist, and the fate of Bannon's insurgency against the Republican establishment is now in doubt.

After a few glasses of wine on Friday, the day when Wolff's book was released, Hansen said he logged onto Amazon and found his own book had made it onto three bestseller lists. "I don't believe there's any way back for Mr. Bannon at this point", Gidley said. He said he regretted waiting to respond to what he called "inaccurate reporting" and called Donald Trump Jr an "honourable man".